Summer's End

Seasons come in stages. Spring is a lessening of the cold and ice of winter. Birds begin to return, build their nests, lay their eggs. Like a flower, spring in its early days, layer by layer it unfurls its petals. At the first a few returning birds wake the dawn with their quiet twitters. As more birds return their cacophony becomes louder until they shout to wake the morning. The eggs hatch, and the sound again becomes more mute as they welcome summer. Summer is busy as they raise their little birds and prepare for autumn. Summer's end comes in stages. After the eggs hatch, there is the feeding and nurturing while the little ones become bigger, and at last they are encouraged to launch out on their own. Like the produce in the garden, all life comes to fruition gently along the way. My Grandfather used to tell me 'first frost comes six weeks after you first hear the locusts sing'. It is a poignant reminder that "I have been young, and now am old..." as it says in Psalms 37:25. As my Grandfather passed on words to me, I will pass them on as well.